Blue Jackets Lacking Killer Instinct

The Doctors order: a good supply of Jan "Bacon" Hejda flavored bandages (Photo by Jim the Corsair/Flickr)

By Rick Gethin

“We did everything well but didn’t get the game shutdown”

CBJ Head Coach Ken Hitchcock

For 50 minutes Friday night, in front of a raucous, capacity crowd of 19,136, the Columbus Blue Jackets played with a hard yet smart brand of physicality. Up 3-1 halfway through the 3rd period over the defending Stanley Cup Champion Penguins, the foot came off the gas. They started to coast and ended up losing to the Pens in a shootout, 4-3. For the Blue Jacket faithful this came as no surprise; they’ve seen this movie before.

Columbus started the game by playing with the form that saw them start the season 5-1. There were tape-to-tape passes and they were good on both the forecheck and backcheck. They managed to limit Pittsburghs’ time in the offensive zone with regularity and use their bodies to full effect. Then the wheels came off.

Columbus netminder Steve Mason (Photo by Dave Gainer/The Hockey Writers)

What is going wrong with a team that started the season with such promise? The blame for the breakdown can spread around as it’s a culmination of many things not being done, or being done poorly. Turnovers seem to be the mistake du jour. Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying; they played solid hockey for most of the game. It’s finishing the game strong that has them stymied.

Steve Mason looked better than he has in the last few games, making some stellar saves throughout the night to go along with Rick Nash’s 2 goals and the one potted by Derek Dorsett (his first of the season). But with that said, he wasn’t very upbeat after the game. “It’s extremely disappointing going into the 3rd period with a 2 goal lead and then losing it”, Mason said. “We had the game within our grasp and we let it go. At the end of the day, we’re not closing out games that should.” The undercurrent from the fans says to start Mathieu Garon, but Ken Hitchcock said that Mason will get the next start against the Washington Capitals on Sunday.

To say that it was quiet in the locker room after the loss would be an understatement; you could’ve heard a mouse in there. It’s been said that you have to lose before you can win. But losing doesn’t sit well with this Blue Jacket club. “A couple of breakdowns in the 3rd cost us”, said Derek Dorsett. “A loss is a loss and you can’t be happy with losses. There’s still more work to do and we’ll get that done tomorrow.” They know what needs to be done and now it’s time to execute the gameplan. Mike Commodore expounded on that theme. “We don’t need a major overhaul”, he said. “You don’t want to go through streaks like this. We need to get it over with now and get past this and figure out what’s going on and get it right. Yes, losing sucks.”

The coach wasn’t happy with the way the team played from the mid-point of the 3rd period on through overtime. With the Blue Jackets on a power play, they started to play dump and chase hockey. “We’ve done that two or three times where we haven’t had the killer instinct”, said Ken Hitchcock. “We could’ve really put the door down and we could’ve really hurt them.” Even though the power play is converting at a nice pace, he said “We still don’t have the killer instinct on the power play. That’s the third time it’s come back to bite us during the season, already.” He’ll keep hammering into these guys heads that they need to put work over skill to win games. “There’s alot of good things that we did”, said Hitchcock, “but you have to get games shut down. We’re learning how to win. This is a hard lesson, but you have to learn all of these lessons. We’re learning how to win hockey games.”

Columbus was the last team this season to have a game go into overtime. Then came losing in the shootout. It’s a bitter pill to swallow and it might not make sense, but as the coach said, they’re learning how to win hockey games.

Rick Gethin is the Associate Editor of The Hockey Writers and also the Columbus Blue Jackets correspondent.